The Matriarch Matrix – A speculative fiction novel of origins, faith, passion, and the pursuit of peace.

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It was always his destiny to save her. It was always her destiny to die. The fate of the world hangs on their choices…

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The past foretells her future…

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What does it take to change a loving child of peace into an assassin for a dangerous and powerful oligarch? Zara Khatum knows. Once a fighter for her Kurdish people, the memory of the atrocities inflicted by her captors has Zara seeking one thing: vengeance. But the voices of the ancients call to Zara. In the past, in another life, she knew the secrets of the artifact…

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Twelve thousand years ago…

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She is Nanshe, revered matriarch of the family she led away from the monsters of the north. In the land that would one day mark the treacherous border between Turkey and Syria, she created the temples at Gobleki Tepe and founded a dynasty, heirs to a powerful object. For millennia, Nanshe’s descendants have passed down the legend of the artifact: “The object can save. But only a man and woman together can guide the salvation of others.”

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Heirs to destiny…

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By fate or destiny, Zara is thrown in with Peter Gollinger, a quirky Californian from the other side of the world and the other side of everything she believes. But he, too, is heeding the voices of his ancestors. Joined by Jean-Paul, a former Jesuit priest, these three people—from wildly different religions and cultures—must find a way to work together to solve a twelve thousand-year-old mystery of the powerful object that spawned a faith. The world teeters on the precipice of war. The outcome depends on them. And one of them is living a lie.

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The Matriarch Matrix is a rich and deeply layered epic story – a spiritual odyssey with a heartbeat of an action adventure. It may make you think, ponder, reflect upon where we came from and where we are going. It blends our past with a speculative future of things that are not so far-fetched. It blends the drama, the comedy, the romance, the tragedy of three protagonists with different cultures, traditions, and beliefs – a Sufi woman, a Jesuit priest, and an alien origin believing atheist. Their journeys separately and together will be a test of their respective faiths and their inner search for personal and family redemption.

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Author Bio

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Maxime has been scribbling stories since grade school from adventure epics to morality plays. Blessed with living in multicultural pluralistic settings and having earned degrees in science and marketing, Maxime has worked in business and sports, traveling to countries across five continents and learning about cultures, traditions, and the importance of tolerance and understanding. Maxime’s debut novel was written and edited in diﬀerent locations in Belgium, including the Turkish and Kurdish neighborhoods of Brussels, in South America, and on the two coasts of the United States.

His eyes, once reddened, are now dark black. Not even his pupils showing. The giant man yells, “Zara, you know what you need to do. You know what happens to all who fail me, who deceive me. Kill Mei first, but make it a leg wound so Peter can see her die in agony in front of him. He needs to learn the price for deceit.”Aghast, Peter quivers. His lips want to cry out, but nothing comes out of his vocal chords. He looks to Jean-Paul. Another tall, imposing male who has the best chance of standing up to thismonster he has signed a contract with. But the former priest still has his eyes closed, seemingly in prayer. And from Peter’s point of view, these arehis last rites the priest is administering.He looks toZara. A woman distraught, in hesitation, indecision, in deep agony over the choices in front of her,seemingly in fear of the gun in her hand. He lifts Mei’shead and peers into her tear-ridden eyes. A deep,loving kiss on her forehead. And he says, “I would have loved to meet your mother.”To her surprise, he rises, helping hold her dress downas hebuttons the last open buttons. To Zara’s surprise, he steps over, respiration rate at max, and takes the gun from the box. Hands shaking, he hands it to her. “I love my family as much as you do. But I cannot be the reason for the suffering of your people.” And he stands in front of her, shaking, sniffling, eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable. He opens his eyes and says, “Pray for me. In case I’m wrong aboutour alien origins, then I’ll need someone to vouch for me with God.”Zara stares at the gun in her hand. She aims it between his eyes as he shakes uncontrollably. Those eyes. Those eyes. Her babies.Sasha will not get the satisfaction this time. This innocent boy from California is not the one who should die today. No more than Abram needed to die on Sasha’s yacht. It is time to make amends.Lowering her aim, she places the gun in his palm and wraps his fingers around it. As he stares at the instrument in his hand, she lifts the barrel to her heart and says, “Even, smooth trigger pull. It will be quick. I won’t suffer.”And there, Peter is frozen. As if he had been there for all of time. He quivers not. He quakes not. Only frozen. But he stares down the barrel into Zara’s well-covered breast. He mutters incomprehensibly.“Illyana.”